March 3 - March 26, 2006 New Theatre at 4120 Laguna Street, Coral Gables, Florida 33146Tickets: 305 443 5909Thursday March 2 - Preview. 8 p.m. Tickets $20 Friday March 3 - Subscribers and Donors' pre-opening celebration at 8 p.m.Tickets (for non-subscribers) are $55 and include a pre-show buffet, open wine bar, and an informal post-play reception with the cast and playwright.Sunday February 26 - Performance at 1 pm followed by a post show talk-back with the playwright, director and staff.Remaining performances: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m and 5:30 pm. (No 5:30 pm performance on March 5 or Feb. 26) Ticket prices for all performances: Thursdays - $30; Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays - $40; Student Rush - $10For more details please visit their website at http://www.new-theatre.org Directed by Ricky J. Martinez With Brandon Morris (Albert, Jr.), Keith Cassidy (Albert Parsons, Sr.), Karina Fernandez and Tara Vodihn (Lucy Cooper)
Set design: Jesse Dreikosen, Lighting design: Patrick Tennent Sound design: Nathan Rausch, Costume design: Estela Vrancovich Production stage manager: Kathryn Tomlinson About the actors and production team Brandon Morris (Albert, Jr.), Keith Cassidy (Albert Parsons, Sr.) and Tara Vodihn (Lucy Cooper) have all appeared at New Theatre in recent seasons, while young Karina Fernandez, who plays the Parson's little girl, makes her New Theatre debut in this production. Jesse Dreikosen and Estela Vrancovich are resident designers at New Theatre, while Nathan Rausch has been the sound designer of several past productions at New Theatre and Patrick Tennent will be making his New Theatre debut as lighting designer for this production. About the play Spanning the years between the end of the Civil War and the start of the explosive labor movement in 1880's Chicago, the life of an inter- racial couple: Lucy and Albert Parsons, is a cautionary tale about the curbing of political freedom.
Little is known about the early life of Lucy Parsons. She had African American, Native American, and Mexican ancestry, and was born in Texas around 1853. Her parents were slaves. Around 1870, while living with another man, Lucy met Albert Parsons, who would soon become her husband. In 1872 Lucy and Albert were forced to leave Texas because of their interracial marriage. They moved to Chicago, where Albert quickly found a job as a printer and became involved in the labor movement.By 1886, people across the country were calling for an eight hour work day, proclaiming, "whether you work by the piece or work by the day, decreasing the hours increases your pay." As a result, 350,000 workers across the nation walked off their jobs to participate in a general strike. That year a strike in Chicago became violent as police fired into a crowd of unarmed workers, and many of them were wounded and killed. At another labor meeting someone threw a bomb that killed a police officer. Albert Parsons was one of eight men accused of the bombing.
Albert turned himself in to the police, and after a lengthy trial, the men were sentenced to death. Lucy, stricken with both anger and pride that her husband would die for his beliefs, headed a campaign for clemency, but her efforts did not sway the courts. On November 11, 1887, Lucy brought her two children to see their father one last time.Lucy Parsons was active in social and unionist causes until her death. She was a woman of action and strong words and well ahead of her time.
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